The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, said on Monday “hardly any” public service jobs will be on the chopping block if the Coalition were to win at the polls, in a significant backdown on comments in 2024 promising to dump as many as 36,000 public servants.
Littleproud says ‘hardly any’ public servant jobs to go under Coalition government in significant backdown It’s a change of pace for the Nationals leader who vowed to slash as many as 36,000 public servant jobs back in August 2024.
On Monday afternoon, the shadow public service minister, Jane Hume, agreed natural attrition of public service roles would be “not far off” the opposition’s planned reduction.
Since the Coalition’s 2022-23 budget in March, the average staffing level for the public service has risen by about 36,000 roles, most notably in frontline services, such as the National Disability Insurance Agency, Services Australia, the defence and health departments.
However, the actual number of employed public servants does not necessarily line up with the average staffing level – it is the forecast figure used by the government to determine how many are needed to deliver the budget measures.
